Improvement in harvesting-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JONATHAN B. SMITH, OF WINFIELD, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 45.186. dated November 22, 1864.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JONATHAN B. SMITH of Winfield, Herkimer county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reaping and Mowing Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this speci- Iication, in which- Y Figure l is a perspective view, and Figs. 2 and 3 are longitudinal vertical sections ot' a portion ofthe same.

Similar letters indicate corresponding parts wherever they occur on the drawings.

The nature of myinvention consists in a de- .vice for rendering ajointed finger-bar rigid.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

In .the drawings, A represents the frame, which may be of the ordinary style.

. B represents a finger-bar, which is connected to the trarne by the rods C, the upper ends of which are pivoted at one end to the frame at o and at their opposite ends to the lingerbar B or shoe E at d, which latter point is near one edge of the iiange projecting upward from E. Near the outer or opposite edge of said iiange is pivoted a loop-shaped lever, a, the ends of which are provided with a cam, e, as shown in Figs. l and 2. A stop, i, is attached to the lever a near its outer extremity, as clearly shown. A cord or chain is attached to the extremity of lever a, its opposite endbeing connected to a cam or eccentric lever, D, for raising and lowering the linger-bar B.

It will be observed that the location of the cams e and stops is such as to bring them directly in line underneath the rods C, so that whenever the lever a is operated by means of the cord and lever I) the point of the cams e will be brought up in contact with rods U, and at the same time the points t' will also be brought in contact with rods C, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. By this means the point between the rods O and the finger-bar B will'be rendered perfectly rigid, in which case a further movement of lever D will raise the ngerbar bodily from the ground, as indicated in red lines in Fig. 2.

When the machine is in operation the cord is loosened, so as to permit the lever a to drop down, and thereby remove the cam e and stop t from contact with rods C, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. In this condition the iinger-bar B, being lel't to play freely on the pivot d, adjusts itself perfectly to the undulations or inequalities of the ground over which it moves, a shoe being attached to both its inner and outer ends in the usual manner. In such case the outer end of the bar can drop down into a hollow or over a knoll, as indicated in red in Fig.

When it is desired to elevate the finger-bar and sickle it is only necessary to operate the lever D, the first result of which will -be to bring the cam e and stop t' against the rod C, thus rendering rigid the joint connecting the bar B and rods C, when a further movement ofthe lever will raise the cutting apparatus bodily from the ground.

The object of thestop t is to prevent the cam efrom being turned too far over, as it would be when the lever a is drawn up bythe cord, if there was nothing to prevent it. lfthe point of the cam e were turned past a point directly over the pivot on which lit works, it would lock against the rod C when the shoe was lowered to the ground, and thus render the joint rigid when it should be loose. By applying the stop fi, as shown, this is entirely prevented.

The lever a serves the additional purpose of holding the cutter-bar in its place and preventing it from dropping or sliding out or downward when the cutting apparatus is ele-- vated to a perpendicular position for the purpose of being transported to and from the leld.

Having thus fully described Iny'invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The cam'lever a, when constructed and arranged to operate in combination with the rods C and lnger-bar B, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

2. The stop t', applied to the cam-lever a, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JONATHAN BARTLETT SMITH.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL MCKEE, S. J AMES MoKEE. 

